Memory of an Encounter (2026) Nonfiction/Digital/Short Film

February 20, 1991. A plane full of American tourists falls into the waters of Puerto Williams, a Chilean sub-Antartic town. Eugenio Calderón, a local indigenous fisherman, spots a woman as she passes out in the water and pulls her to safety. The event is reported widely, but Eugenio’s participation is omitted for years until Caryl Dawson, the survivor herself, returns to town with a videotape camera to meet him in person.

Using never-before-seen institutional footage as well as Caryl Dawson’s personal video archive, Memory of an Encounter explores the aftermath of a plane accident and the moment a survivor and her rescuer meet to reconstruct and preserve the memory of the event.

Directed by Fernando Saldivia Yáñez; Video Archive courtesy of Caryl Dawson; Oral History by Eugenio Calderón; Interview by Felipe Sasso and Fernando Saldivia Yáñez.